California Sports Betting 2024: What You Need to Know About the CA Sportsbook Bill
Are you a keen sports fan in California but are wondering whether betting is legal in the Golden State?
In this article, we’re going to walk you through everything you need to know about California online sports betting – including the all-important legal situation. We’ll also reveal unique ways that you can bet on sports in CA, regardless of which sport you want to wager on.
Let’s get started with a look at the California sports betting legal situation.
🔑 Key Takeaways
- Find out the answer to the question: is sports betting legal in California?
- Learn about sweepstakes sportsbook sites.
- Keep up to date with the recent California sports betting news.
Is Online Sports Betting Legal in California?
Unfortunately, the situation regarding California sports betting laws is rather complex.
In short, there has been no California sports betting launch yet because lawmakers in the Golden State are yet to sign off on a bill that they’re happy with. So, wagering in California, both online and in person, remains prohibited – for now, at least.
When will sports betting be legal in California? The answer is not for now, with Proposition 26 and 27 both rejected out of hand in the House back in 2022. Currently, there is no new California sports betting bill on the table.
However, representatives of some of the state’s tribes have indicated that they would like to introduce legal sports betting at their casino properties by 2026. This, in turn, could pave the way for mobile sports betting in California to begin.
In the meantime, feel free to consult our state-by-state guide to sports betting legality for more information.
Our Alternative to Online Sportsbooks in California: Sweepstakes Bookmakers
While there’s no new California sports betting legislation to report on, at least there’s a way for the people of the Golden State to place their bets. So, what sports betting apps are legal in California?
With sweepstakes sports betting, you can wager on your favorite sports and leagues, with many markets – including moneyline, totals and spreads – available.
You don’t have to part with any cash, as virtual currency is used to stake with. However, many sweepstakes sportsbooks do use coins with monetary value, of sorts. These coins can be exchanged for prizes or withdrawn as cash.
As such, these sites are considered a great alternative to traditional California sports betting sites.
Fliff
Fliff is a ‘social sportsbook’ that takes bets across a huge A-Z of sports.
You wager with Fliff’s own in-house virtual currency, winning more coins for every successful bet. There are also badges and prizes to be won, and you can even use your Fliff Cash to buy gift cards from retailers and brands such as Airbnb, Domino’s and Chipotle.
Fliff is completely legal in California, so you can bet on sports, win coins, and exchange those for ‘real world’ prizes – the next best thing to traditional wagering. With a generous welcome bonus available that will top up your Fliff Cash balance, now is the perfect time to get involved.
Rebet
Another of the California sports betting apps that comes recommended is Rebet.
Like Fliff, Rebet uses the sweepstakes sports betting model explained earlier, which means that you can use its free virtual currency, or top up your account with Rebet Cash to win prizes with real-money value. You can also withdraw winnings at a rate of 1:1 in USD.
Rebet also uses a ‘peer-to-peer’ betting option, which enables you to compete against your friends and family for local bragging rights!
The great news is that Rebet is live and legal in California, with a minimum age requirement of 18+.
How to Bet on Sports in California?
For now, the only way to bet on sports in California is via the sweepstakes sportsbooks mentioned in this guide.
We will keep you updated with any California sports betting updates as they happen, but at the time of writing, there are no legal sportsbooks operating online in CA or in a retail environment.
Popular Sports and Teams in the California Betting Scene
It’s ironic that sports betting is prohibited in a state with such a rich sporting heritage!
Fun fact: At least one team in California has won each of the Super Bowl, NBA Championship, Stanley Cup, and World Series!
Football
The most successful football team in California are the San Francisco 49ers, who have won the Super Bowl on five different occasions.
The Los Angeles Rams are also two-time Super Bowl champions, with their most recent success coming in 2022 at Super Bowl LVI.
The Los Angeles Chargers, while not as successful as those other two franchises, did win the AFL Championship game back in 1963.
Basketball
California plays host to two of the most successful NBA franchises of all time:
- The Los Angeles Lakers dominated the NBA in both the 1980s and the 2000s and have won a total of 17 championships across the decades.
- The Golden State Warriors have enjoyed more contemporary success, playing in the NBA Finals on four occasions between 2015 and 2022.
Two other teams – the Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings – complete the basketball scene in CA.
Baseball
There are a whopping five Major League Baseball franchises in California:
- Los Angeles Angels
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Oakland Athletics
- San Francisco Giants
- San Francisco Padres
Between them, they have won 14 editions of the World Series – most recently in 2020, courtesy of the Dodgers.
Hockey
Although California might not be a state that many would associate with hockey, it does play host to three NHL franchises, with two of them winning the Stanley Cup:
- The Anaheim Ducks were the first to prevail in hockey’s biggest series in 2007, before the Los Angeles Kings did likewise in 2012 and 2014.
- The San Jose Sharks are yet to break their duck, but there’s a chance that they could become CA’s third Stanley Cup champions.
Soccer
All three of California’s soccer teams have won the MLS Cup, while a fourth – San Diego FC – will join Major League Soccer as an expansion franchise in 2025.
The LA Galaxy have won the MLS Cup on five occasions, while the San Jose Earthquakes got the job done twice, in 2001 and 2003. Los Angeles FC were the state’s most recent champions, lifting the MLS Cup in 2022.
College Sports
It won’t surprise you to learn that California is one of the most successful states in college sports: there are 26 Division 1 colleges in CA at the time of writing.
The California Golden Bears (University of California) have won dozens of NCAA championships, with their flagship water polo program winning 17 such titles! All told, University of California graduates have won 91 gold medals at the Olympic Games.
Fun fact: California was third only to Florida and Texas in terms of college sports crowd sizes in 2023-24.
Stanford has won more NCAA Division 1 titles than any other school, while the UCLA Bruins rank second in the same category.
Pepperdine University has one of the most successful golf programs, winning two NCAA Division 1 titles and producing three future PGA TOUR winners, while San Diego State counts two-time major champion Xander Schauffele among its alumni.
The Impact of Local Teams on Sports Betting
Given the success of California’s sports teams at both the professional and collegiate level, you can be sure that this would fire a huge interest in localized wagering in the state, if sports betting were to be legalized.
Also, given that CA is the most populous state in America, the total California sports betting revenue would be enormous!
Upcoming Events
If you’re interested in sweepstakes sports betting in California, here are some of the most exciting sporting events and games on the schedule.
Are There More Gambling Options in California?
Can you use sports betting apps in California? No. But are there other ways to gamble in CA? Yes. Even though a California sports betting locations map would look bare, there is a range of other gambling options available.
- Casino Gaming: Although commercial casinos are banned in California, the same rules don’t apply to those operated by local tribes. So, you can play your favorite slots and table games at more than 80 tribal casinos on CA state soil.
- Poker: You can play poker at one of California’s dedicated ‘cardrooms’. There are currently 88 cardrooms across the state, allowing you to play different versions of poker in a professional environment.
- Horse Racing: Parimutuel betting is legal in California, with four different racetracks (Del Mar, Los Alamitos, Cal-Expo and Santa Anita) – and a handful of off-track locations – welcoming your horse racing wagers. The California sports betting age for parimutuel is 18 years or older.
- Daily Fantasy: There are no laws prohibiting daily fantasy gaming in California, so you can join the best DFS apps from the likes of DraftKings and FanDuel and start drafting your lineups right away.
Maximizing Your Bets
When sweepstakes betting, or when traditional wagering is legalized in California, you can up your game by following the steps detailed below.
Tips and Strategies for California Bettors
The best way to improve your chances of success when betting on sports is to think of your wagering like an investment company. You don’t see successful investors such as Warren Buffett using all of their funds on one stock, so why would you spend your entire bankroll on a single bet?
Break up your bankroll into small chunks, such as 2% to 5%, to ensure that you have longevity and that a losing streak won’t wipe out your funds.
You should also keep records to establish which sports and bet types yield the best results for you. My own personal betting improved when I created a simple Excel spreadsheet, listing all the bets I have placed and their individual return on investment.
My own personal approach to sports betting is to seek out value bets – that is, where the odds offered are generous and in line with my predictions of how an event will play out. Even if I think that a team will win a game, I won’t back them unless the odds have enough value in them in case I’m wrong.
If you want to level up your sports betting, you’ll find more helpful strategies and ideas in our guide on how to get better at sports betting.
Understanding Taxes and Payouts
So, do you have to pay sports betting taxes in California? The answer in short is yes. Any profits from gambling are treated as ordinary income, so they must be included in your federal and state tax return. Any losses are deducted from the winnings.
Each individual state has the power to impose its own rules on taxing gamblers, with the California sports betting tax rate ranging between 1 and 12.3%, depending on your income. At the federal level, you may be subject to a 24% tax if your winnings exceed $5,000.
So, Will You Bet from California Tonight?
The main takeaway from this article is that while traditional sports betting is illegal in California, thanks to sweepstakes sportsbooks, you can still place wagers in CA. You can join Fliff and Rebet right now, placing your first bets within moments of setting up your account. Don’t forget, you can win prizes with real-money value there.
You still need to be placing winning bets to maximize your return, though: our sports betting tools can help you add more context to your wagers.
